2025:

February

• A study on DNA nanostructure-cocktail aptamers mediated cancer drug delivery for effective AML treatment, led by Abhisek with a group effort has been accepted for publication by Advanced Functional Materials!

2024:

November

• The designer DNA NanoGripper work, led by Lifeng, Yanyu, and Abhisek with a group effort has been accepted for publication by Science Robotics!

October

• A book chapter about engineering advanced nanomaterials for virus detection (led by Saurabh and Abhisek) has been published! 

September

• Welcome Tshepo and Ichrak joined the group as visiting scholars!

February

• A study on virus inhibition, led by our excellent postdoc fellow, Tingjie Song, has been accepted for publication by the Journal of the American Chemical Society!

January

• A study on SARS-CoV-2 detection, led by our excellent postdoc fellow, Saurabh, has been accepted for publication by Analytical Chemistry and selected as a cover story!

2023:

December

• A computational study on aptamer-protein interactions as led by our excellent ZJUI undergrads (Zheng, Zhongqi, and Shixin) and supervised by our excellent postdocs (Saurabh and Abhisek) has been accepted for publication by the Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling!

September

• Welcome Tu joined the group as a postdoc fellow!

August

• We are honored to be funded by NIH-NCI to support our joint efforts with Prof. Brian Cunningham to develop rapid, inexpensive, ultrasensitive sensing strategy for liquid biopsy by detecting circulating tumor DNAs (ctDNAs) in cancer patients.  We really appreciate the support from the NIH.

• Welcome Linh joined the group as a graduate research assistant! 

July

• Xing gave invited lectures at VinUni Summer School.

• Xing gave an invited talk at Hanoi University of Science and Technology.

• Xing gave an invited talk at Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

• Xing gave an invited lecture at Xi'an Jiaotong University.

June

• Welcome Tionna and Essie from Navajo Technical University joined the group as undergraduate student researchers through University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign MSI Alliance Summer Research Experience!

• We are honored to be funded by NIH-NIAID to support our efforts to develop designer DNA nanostructures for blocking enveloped viral infection.  We really appreciate the support from the NIH.

• Xing gave an invited Distinguished Lecture at Nanjing University.

• Xing gave invited talks at ZJUI, ZJE and ZJU.

May

• Our work "Self-assembly of DNA nanostructures in different cations" was published by Small.

April

• Our work "Designer DNA NanoGripper" was deposited at BioRxiv.

March

• Our work "Rapid detection of intact SARS-CoV-2 using designer DNA Nets and a pocket-size smartphone-linked fluorimeter" was published by Biosensors and Bioelectronics.

• Our work "A photonic resonator interferometric scattering microscope for label-free detection of nanometer-scale objects with digital precision in point-of-use environments" was published by Biosensors and Bioelectronics.

February

• Our review "Review of HIV Self Testing Technologies and Promising Approaches for the Next Generation" was published by Biosensors.

• We are honored to be funded by NIH-RADx to process the pathway to commercialization of our viral biosensors.  We really appreciate the support from the NIH.

• Dr. Lifeng Zhou, a postdoc fellow in the group, has started his own lab at Peking University.  Congratulations Lifeng!

January

• Welcome Mehzabin joined group as a graduate research assistant!

2022:

December

• Xing delivered an invited talk at Seeman Memorial Symposium, New York University.

October

• Saurabbh is honored to be selected for a 2022-2023 Mistletoe Research Fellow.  Congratulations!

• Welcome Linh joined the group as a undergraduate student researcher! 

September

• Our work "Homologous pairing in short double-stranded DNA-grafated colloidal microspheres" was published by Biophysical Journal.

August

• Welcome Wei and Mengxi joined the group as postdoc fellows!

July

• Our work "Net-shaped DNA nanostructures designed for rapid/sensitive detection and potential inhibition of the SARS-CoV-2 virus" was published and selected as a cover story by the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

June

• Welcome Dhanush (BioE) joined group as a graduate research assistant!

May

• Welcome Katy (BioE) joined group as a Tracy Fellowship Scholar to conduct undergraduate summer research!

• Welcome Zheng, Zhongqi, and Shixin (ZJUI) joined group as undergraduate researchers to conduct summer research! 

February

• Our review "Aptamers for viral detection and inhibition" was accepted and selected as a cover story by ACS Infectious Diseases. 

January

• Welcome Saurabh joined group as a Postdoc Fellow!

2021:

October

• Xing is honored to win Mikashi Award for our biosensor developments!

• Our work "Designer DNA nanostructures for viral inhibition" was accepted by Nature Protocols.

• Welcome Tingjie joined group as a Research Associate!

September

• We are honored to be funded by NIH-NIBIB to develop portable viral detection methods.  We really appreciate the support from the NIH.

• Welcome Abhisek joined group as a Research Associate!

August

• A News and Views article of virus inhibition by Neha is online now at Nature Materials.

• Welcome Neha joined group as a Research Associate!

July

• Congratulations Neha on passing her Ph.D. defense!!!  You have done a great job and we are proud of your achievement.

June

• Xing gave an invited talk at European Materials Research Society Spring Meeting.

• Welcome Lifeng joined group as an IGB Fellow!

May

• A conference article of tip-enhanced Raman and AFM imaging of RNA strands was published at Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics.

• Welcome Luke joined group to work on cancer diagnostics projects!

April

• Xing gave an invited talk at Materials Research Society Spring Meeting and Exhibit.

March

• A work led by Prof. Brian Cunningham's group on photonic resonator interferometric scattering interferometric microscopy was published by Nature Communications.

February

• Our collaborative work (with Dr. Hu and Dr. Scully) on TERS-based RNA sequencing was published and featured as a cover story by ACS Photonics.

January

• With our excellent collaborators, Prof. Brian Cunningham and Prof. Utkan Demirci (Stanford), we are honored to be awarded an RO1 grant from NIH-NIAID to develop novel strategies for ultrasensitive HIV viral load quantitation.  We really appreciate the support from the NIH.

• The Wang lab now has multiple postdoc and graduate assistant openings available.  For more details, please see the job descriptions and reach out to Xing via email: xingw@illinois.edu

2020:

December

• We are honored to be awarded an R44 grant from NIH-NIDCR aiming to develop a sample filtration system and a handheld device for COVID-19 sensing.  We really appreciate the support from the NIH.

• With our excellent collaborators at UIUC and LSU, we are honored to be awarded a UO1 grant from NIH-NIAAA to develop a COVID-19 detection and automatic privacy-protected contact tracing system.  We really appreciate the support from the NIH.

November

• Welcome Addison Adrian, our newest group member!  Addison joined UIUC Chemistry Ph.D. program in 2020, and will work on the collaborative projects between Prof. Yi Lu's and Xing's group.  Very excited to have Addison aboard and we are looking to conducting exciting research projects in the coming years.

October

• The CPD has multiple postdoc openings through the ZJU-UIUC Global Postdoc Program.  Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.  We also welcomes academic and industrial collaborators to advance technologies for pathogen diagnostics

July

• With an excellent group of faculty from UIUC, ZJUI, and ZJU, our Center for Pathogen Diagnostics (CPD) is selected for a 5-year support by ZJU-JRC.  Xing co-directs the Center with Profs. Brian Cunningham and Huan Hu.  We are looking forward to carrying out exciting research collaborations, implementing student/postdoc trainings, and exploring pathways to product commercialization in the coming years!

April

• With our excellent collaborator, Prof. Brian Cunningham, we are honored to be awarded a grant from NSF-CBET aiming to develop rapid, inexpensive, sensitive, and label free SARS-CoV-2 biosensing.  We really appreciate the support from the NSF.  See the news report

February

• A paper by our visiting scholar, Dr. Jinwei Duan, and my former graduate student, Dr. Megan Kizer, was accepted by Topics in Current Chemistry.

2019:

November

• A paper was accepted by Nature Chemistry based on our PEST Technology.  The paper is selected as the cover story.

September

• A paper was accepted by ACS Applied Nano Materials.

August

• The lab has been moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

July

• A paper was accepted by Chemical Communications.

May

• Megan has received 2019 Walter H. Bauer Doctoral Prize in Chemistry.

April

• A paper was accepted by Lab on a Chip and selected as a journal cover.

March

• Congratulations Megan on passing her Ph.D. defense!!!  You have done a great job and we are proud of your achievement.  Good luck with your postdoc career at MIT.

• Congratulations Kara on passing her Master defense!!!  You have done a great job and we are proud of your achievement.

February

• A paper was accepted by Biochemistry

• A paper was accepted by Small and selected as a journal back cover.

• A paper was accepted by Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry

January

• Welcome Dr. Jinwei Duan, a visiting scholar from Changan University, China.

2017:

June

• A paper was accepted by RNA Biology.

May

• Nate Anderson has received Slezak Memorial Graduate Fellowship.

April

• A paper was accepted by Analytical Chemistry.

March

• Karen's research proposal got funded by RPI 2017 Summer Undergraduate Research Program.

2015:

December

• Welcome Joe and Megan who join the lab as graduate student researcher!

October

• Welcome Hannah Lang from Emma Willard High School! Hannah will do her project in the group for one year.

September

• Two back-to-back papers about PX-DNA were accepted by ACS Nano.

August

• Welcome Neha Chauhan from Materials Science and Engineering!

May

• Welcome Ian Huntress from CS & Bioinformatics program!

April

• Ian Park's proposal to the Summer Undergraduate Research Program got funded with $4,000 summer stipend award! Congratulations!

March

• Welcome Shuvankar Banik and Sam Trevenen from CBE Department!

February

• Welcome Barry Li from CBE Department!

• Welcome Taylor MacEwen from BME Department!